Lok Satta is a non-partisan movement for democratic reforms in the country of India, [1] led by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, a former I. A. S. officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh, India. The movement was started in 1996 with the founding of Lok Satta, a non-governmental organization. In 2006, the movement transformed into Lok Satta Party.
The group declared to form a political party and contest in the upcoming elections. Though the movement initially started in Andhra Pradesh, it later spread across the country. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan says that democracy is for the people, of the people and by the people. Lok Satta is a registered society whose membership is open and available to all Indians. It has district branches and neighbourhood units spread all over Andhra Pradesh. It has over 250,000 members in the state and over 30,000 in the Greater Hyderabad region. While Lok Satta's goals are governance reforms in India, its organizational spread is largely in Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from creating India’s largest base for a people’s movement in Andhra Pradesh, Lok Satta is now deeply engaged in building a viable national platform for democratic reforms through building alliances in major states and promoting local initiatives, and building an effective and highly credible coalition at the national level specifically for electoral reforms. It has also launched its political party arm in October 2007, [2] [3] which has met with reasonable success. [4]
According to Lok Satta, the specific reforms derived from the above generic principles must be in conformity with the following basic principles of democracy:
Nara Chandrababu Naidu, also known as Chandrababu Naidu or CBN, is an Indian politician, statesman and the current leader of the opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He also served as Chief Minister from 1995 to 2004 and as opposition leader from 2004 to 2014 of Andhra Pradesh. He has been the national president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) since 2015.
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Jaya Prakash Narayana is an Indian liberal politician and activist. He is the founder and president of Lok Satta Party. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Kukatpally constituency of Andhra Pradesh in India. In May 2014, he contested from Malkajgiri as a Member of Parliament and lost.
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D.V.V.S. Varma was the Working President of the Lok Satta Party for Andhra Pradesh State. He was actively involved in Lok Satta movement from the time of its inception. He has served in various office-bearer positions for the Lok Satta Party. He is also a reputed newspaper columnist and media analyst of political and policy affairs.
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